Spring chickens, for fall

Looking for a hot chick? Well, Animal Place sanctuary has some that are looking permanent homes.

Animal Place welcomed 2,000 1-year-old hens into their care in September. The chickens were about to be killed by a factory farm in Central California when a deal was negotiated to turn the birds over to Animal Place.

The white leghorns, which are bred for their laying prowess, had lived their entire lives in cramped, wire battery cages typical of inhumane egg production facilities. It’s taken a while to nurse them back to health, but they’re ready to find new homes. The birds will continue to be productive for a while yet, but they will make excellent companions and garden pals for many years to come.

In the past four years, Animal Place has rescued 16,000 chickens from farms and placed them in permanent homes. If you’re interested, fill out an online application and then arrange for an appointment to pick your chickens. The birds are at Animal Place’s Rescue Ranch, 3448 Laguna Creek Trail, Vacaville, and with some area shelter partners.

When the group went in to rescue the hens they found a surprise — a rooster. Commercial egg production farms weed out male chicks. They are of no use to the operation, so they are killed. But an inattentive chicken sexer let one through and it lived undetected in a cage with several females.

Before applying be sure that your city or county permits chickens. Some don’t and others have restrictions on size of flocks. Most prohibit roosters as they tend to be noiser than the hens.

Everyone I know that has chickens just loves them, and like dogs and cats, they have their own personalities. You’ll need to do some preparation for their arrival, building or creating a safe place for them to roost, but otherwise, chickens are fairly easy to care for. And after what they’ve been through, they deserve loving homes where they can stretch their legs, scratch the ground and know that they won’t be killed after someone deems them past their egg-laying prime.